Internet Programming Contest

Sponsored by Duke ACM October 22, 1990

Welcome
Welcome to the rst global internet programming contest. We at Duke hope that this will be an enjoyable experience. Please do not hesitate to o er suggestions as to how we might improve this contest in the future.

No participants in the contest should look at these problems prior to 7 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), which is 2300 hours Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), October 23, 1990.
Remember that all input should be read from stdin, that all output to stderr is ignored, and that all output to stdout is judged. If you choose to print prompts (e.g., \Enter a value"), do NOT print them to stdout. Good luck.

1 PROBLEM 1: THE 3N + 1 PROBLEM

1 Problem 1: The 3n + 1 problem

Problems in Computer Science are often classi ed as belonging to a certain class of problems (e.g., NP, Unsolvable, Recursive). In this problem you will be analyzing a property of an algorithm whose classi cation is not known for all possible inputs. Consider the following algorithm: 1. input n 2. print n 3. if n = 1 then STOP 4. if n is odd then n 3n + 1 5. else n n=2 6. GOTO 2 Given the input 22, the following sequence of numbers will be printed 22 11 34 17 52 26 13 40 20 10 5 16 8 4 2 1 It is conjectured that the algorithm above will terminate (when a 1 is printed) for any integral input value. Despite the simplicity of the algorithm, it is unknown whether this conjecture is true. It has been veri ed, however, for all integers n such that 0 < n < 1; 000; 000 (and, in fact, for many more numbers than this.) Given an input n, it is possible to determine the number of numbers printed before and including the 1 is printed. For a given n this is called the cycle-length of n. In the example above, the cycle length of 22 is 16. For any two numbers i and j you are to determine the maximum cycle length over all numbers between and including both i and j .

Background

The Problem

The Input

The input will consist of a series of pairs of integers i and j , one pair of integers per line. All integers will be less than 10,000 and greater than 0. You should process all pairs of integers and for each pair determine the maximum cycle length over all integers between and including i and j .

1 PROBLEM 1: THE 3N + 1 PROBLEM

For each pair of input integers i and j you should output i, j , and the maximum cycle length for integers between and including i and j . These three numbers should be separated by at least one space with all three numbers on one line and with one line of output for each line of input. The integers i and j must appear in the output in the same order in which they appeared in the input and should be followed by the maximum cycle length (on the same line).

The Output

Sample Input
1 10 100 200 201 210 900 1000

Sample Output
1 10 20 100 200 125 201 210 89 900 1000 174

2 PROBLEM 2: THE BLOCKS PROBLEM

2 Problem 2: The Blocks Problem

Many areas of Computer Science use simple, abstract domains for both analytical and empirical studies. For example, an early AI study of planning and robotics (STRIPS) used a block world in which a robot arm performed tasks involving the manipulation of blocks. In this problem you will model a simple block world under certain rules and constraints. Rather than determine how to achieve a speci ed state, you will \program" a robotic arm to respond to a limited set of commands. The problem is to parse a series of commands that instruct a robot arm in how to manipulate blocks that lie on a at table. Initially there are n blocks on the table (numbered from 0 to n 1) with block bi adjacent to block bi+1 for all 0 i < n 1 as shown in the diagram below: 0 1 2 3 4 n-1

Background

The Problem

Figure 1: Initial Blocks World The valid commands for the robot arm that manipulates blocks are: move a onto b where a and b are block numbers, puts block a onto block b after returning any blocks that are stacked on top of blocks a and b to their initial positions. move a over b where a and b are block numbers, puts block a onto the top of the stack containing block b, after returning any blocks that are stacked on top of block a to their initial positions. pile a onto b where a and b are block numbers, moves the pile of blocks consisting of block a, and any blocks that are stacked above block a, onto block b. All blocks on top of block b are moved to their initial positions prior to the pile taking place. The blocks stacked above block a retain their order when moved. pile a over b where a and b are block numbers, puts the pile of blocks consisting of block a, and any blocks that are stacked above block a, onto the top of the stack containing block b. The blocks stacked above block a retain their original order when moved. quit terminates manipulations in the block world. Any command in which a = b or in which a and b are in the same stack of blocks is an illegal command. All illegal commands should be ignored and should have no a ect on the con guration of blocks.

2 PROBLEM 2: THE BLOCKS PROBLEM

The input begins with an integer n on a line by itself representing the number of blocks in the block world. You may assume that 0 < n < 25. The number of blocks is followed by a sequence of block commands, one command per line. Your program should process all commands until the quit command is encountered. You may assume that all commands will be of the form speci ed above. There will be no syntactically incorrect commands. The output should consist of the nal state of the blocks world. Each original block position numbered i (0 i < n where n is the number of blocks) should appear followed immediately by a colon, followed by at least one space, followed by a list of blocks that appear stacked in that position with each block number separated from other block numbers by a space. Trailing spaces on a line are ok. There should be one line of output for each block position (i.e., n lines of output where n is the integer on the rst line of input).

The Input

The Output

Sample Input
10 move move move move pile pile move move quit 9 8 7 6 8 8 2 4 onto over over over over over over over 1 1 1 1 6 5 1 9

Sample Output
0: 1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 0 1 9 2 4 3 5 8 7 6

3 PROBLEM 3: ECOLOGICAL BIN PACKING

Bin packing, or the placement of objects of certain weights into di erent bins subject to certain constraints, is an historically interesting problem. Some bin packing problems are NP-complete but are amenable to dynamic programming solutions or to approximately optimal heuristic solutions. In this problem you will be solving a bin packing problem that deals with recycling glass. Recycling glass requires that the glass be separated by color into one of three categories: brown glass, green glass, and clear glass. In this problem you will be given three recycling bins, each containing a speci ed number of brown, green and clear bottles. In order to be recycled, the bottles will need to be moved so that each bin contains bottles of only one color. The problem is to minimize the number of bottles that are moved. You may assume that the only problem is to minimize the number of movements between boxes. For the purposes of this problem, each bin has in nite capacity and the only constraint is moving the bottles so that each bin contains bottles of a single color. The input consists of a series of lines with each line containing 9 integers. The rst three integers on a line represent the number of brown, green, and clear bottles (respectively) in bin number 1, the second three represent the number of brown, green and clear bottles (respectively) in bin number 2, and the last three integers represent the number of brown, green, and clear bottles (respectively) in bin number 3. For example, the line 10 15 20 30 12 8 15 8 31 indicates that there are 20 clear bottles in bin 1, 12 green bottles in bin 2, and 15 brown bottles in bin 3. Integers on a line will be separated by one or more spaces. Your program should process all lines in the input le.

Background

3 Problem 3: Ecological Bin Packing

The Problem

The Input

3 PROBLEM 3: ECOLOGICAL BIN PACKING

For each line of input there will be one line of output indicating what color bottles go in what bin to minimize the number of bottle movements. You should also print the minimum number of bottle movements. The output should consist of a string of the three upper case characters 'G', 'B', 'C' (representing the colors green, brown, and clear) representing the color associated with each bin. The rst character of the string represents the color associated with the rst bin, the second character of the string represents the color associated with the second bin, and the third character represents the color associated with the third bin. The integer indicating the minimum number of bottle movements should follow the string. If more than one order of brown, green, and clear bins yields the minimum number of movements then the alphabetically rst string representing a minimal con guration should be printed.

The Output

Sample Input
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 5 10 5 20 10 5 10 20 10

Sample Output
BCG 30 CBG 50

4 PROBLEM 4: STACKING BOXES

4 Problem 4: Stacking Boxes

Some concepts in Mathematics and Computer Science are simple in one or two dimensions but become more complex when extended to arbitrary dimensions. Consider solving di erential equations in several dimensions and analyzing the topology of an n-dimensional hypercube. The former is much more complicated than its one dimensional relative while the latter bears a remarkable resemblance to its \lower-class" cousin.

Background

The Problem

Consider an n-dimensional \box" given by its dimensions. In two dimensions the box (2,3) might represent a box with length 2 units and width 3 units. In three dimensions the box (4,8,9) can represent a box 4 8 9 (length, width, and height). In 6 dimensions it is, perhaps, unclear what the box (4,5,6,7,8,9) represents; but we can analyze properties of the box such as the sum of its dimensions. In this problem you will analyze a property of a group of n-dimensional boxes. You are to determine the longest nesting string of boxes, that is a sequence of boxes b1; b2; : : :; bk such that each box bi nests in box bi+1 (1 i < k). A box D = (d1; d2; : : :; dn) nests in a box E = (e1 ; e2; : : :; en ) if there is some rearrangement of the di such that when rearranged each dimension is less than the corresponding dimension in box E. This loosely corresponds to turning box D to see if it will t in box E. However, since any rearrangement su ces, box D can be contorted, not just turned (see examples below). For example, the box D = (2,6) nests in the box E = (7,3) since D can be rearranged as (6,2) so that each dimension is less than the corresponding dimension in E. The box D = (9,5,7,3) does NOT nest in the box E = (2,10,6,8) since no rearrangement of D results in a box that satis es the nesting property, but F = (9,5,7,1) does nest in box E since F can be rearranged as (1,9,5,7) which nests in E. Formally, we de ne nesting as follows: box D = (d1; d2; : : :; dn) nests in box E = (e1 ; e2; : : :; en) if there is a permutation of 1 : : :n such that (d (1); d (2); : : :; d (n)) \ ts" in (e1; e2; : : :; en ) i.e., if d (i) < ei for all 1 i n. The input consists of a series of box sequences. Each box sequence begins with a line consisting of the the number of boxes k in the sequence followed by the dimensionality of the boxes, n (on the same line.) This line is followed by k lines, one line per box with the n measurements of each box on one line separated by one or more spaces. The ith line in the sequence (1 i k) gives the measurements for the ith box. There may be several box sequences in the input le. Your program should process all of them and determine, for each sequence, which of the k boxes determine the longest nesting string and the length of that nesting string (the number of boxes in the string). In this problem the maximum dimensionality is 10 and the minimum dimensionality is 1. The maximum number of boxes in a sequence is 30.

The Input

4 PROBLEM 4: STACKING BOXES

For each box sequence in the input le, output the length of the longest nesting string on one line followed on the next line by a list of the boxes that comprise this string in order. The \smallest" or \innermost" box of the nesting string should be listed rst, the next box (if there is one) should be listed second, etc. The boxes should be numbered according to the order in which they appeared in the input le ( rst box is box 1, etc.). If there is more than one longest nesting string then any one of them can be output.

The Output

Sample Input
5 2 3 7 8 10 5 2 9 11 21 18 8 6 5 2 20 1 30 10 23 15 7 9 11 3 40 50 34 24 14 4 9 10 11 12 13 14 31 4 18 8 27 17 44 32 13 19 41 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 80 37 47 18 21 9

Sample Output
5 3 1 2 4 5 4 7 2 5 6

5 PROBLEM 5: ARBITRAGE

10

5 Problem 5: Arbitrage
The use of computers in the nance industry has been marked with controversy lately as programmed trading | designed to take advantage of extremely small uctuations in prices | has been outlawed at many Wall Street rms. The ethics of computer programming is a edgling eld with many thorny issues.

Background

The Problem

ences in conversion rates among several currencies in order to achieve a pro t. For example, if $1.00 in U.S. currency buys 0.7 British pounds currency, $1 in British currency buys 9.5 French francs, and 1 French franc buys 0.16 in U.S. dollars, then an arbitrage trader can start with $1.00 and earn 1 0:7 9:5 0:16 = 1:064 dollars thus earning a pro t of 6.4 percent. You will write a program that determines whether a sequence of currency exchanges can yield a pro t as described above. To result in successful arbitrage, a sequence of exchanges must begin and end with the same currency, but any starting currency may be considered. The input le consists of one or more conversion tables. You must solve the arbitrage problem for each of the tables in the input le. Each table is preceded by an integer n on a line by itself giving the dimensions of the table. The maximum dimension is 20; the minimum dimension is 2. The table then follows in row major order but with the diagonal elements of the table missing (these are assumed to have value 1.0). Thus the rst row of the table represents the conversion rates between country 1 and n 1 other countries, i.e., the amount of currency of country i (2 i n) that can be purchased with one unit of the currency of country 1. Thus each table consists of n + 1 lines in the input le: 1 line containing n and n lines representing the conversion table.

Arbitrage is the trading of one currency for another with the hopes of taking advantage of small di er-

The Input

The Output

For each table in the input le you must determine whether a sequence of exchanges exists that results in a pro t of more than 1 percent (0.01). If a sequence exists you must print the sequence of exchanges that results in a pro t. If there is more than one sequence that results in a pro t of more than 1 percent you must print a sequence of minimal length, i.e., one of the sequences that uses the fewest exchanges of currencies to yield a pro t. (continued)

5 PROBLEM 5: ARBITRAGE

11

Because the IRS (United States Internal Revenue Service) notices lengthy transaction sequences, all pro ting sequences must consist of n or fewer transactions where n is the dimension of the table giving conversion rates. The sequence 1 2 1 represents two conversions. If a pro ting sequence exists you must print the sequence of exchanges that results in a pro t. The sequence is printed as a sequence of integers with the integer i representing the ith line of the conversion table (country i). The rst integer in the sequence is the country from which the pro ting sequence starts. This integer also ends the sequence. If no pro ting sequence of n or fewer transactions exists, then the line
no arbitrage sequence exists

should be printed.

Sample Input
3 1.2 .89 .88 5.1 1.1 0.15 4 3.1 0.0023 0.21 0.00353 200 180.559 2.11 0.089 2 2.0 0.45

0.35 8.13 10.339 0.06111

Sample Output
1 2 1 1 4 3 1 no arbitrage sequence exists

6 PROBLEM 6: THE SKYLINE PROBLEM

12

6 Problem 6: The Skyline Problem

With the advent of high speed graphics workstations, CAD (computer-aided design) and other areas (CAM, VLSI design) have made increasingly e ective use of computers. One of the problems with drawing images is the elimination of hidden lines | lines obscured by other parts of a drawing. You are to design a program to assist an architect in drawing the skyline of a city given the locations of the buildings in the city. To make the problem tractable, all buildings are rectangular in shape and they share a common bottom (the city they are built in is very at). The city is also viewed as two-dimensional. A building is speci ed by an ordered triple (Li; Hi; Ri) where Li and Ri are left and right coordinates, respectively, of building i and Hi is the height of the building. In the diagram below buildings are shown on the left with triples (1; 11; 5); (2; 6; 7); (3; 13; 9); (12; 7; 16); (14; 3; 25); (19; 18; 22); (23; 13; 29); (24; 4; 28) the skyline, shown on the right, is represented by the sequence: (1, 11, 3, 13, 9, 0, 12, 7, 16, 3, 19, 18, 22, 3, 23, 13, 29, 0)

Background

The Problem

10

15

20

25

30

10

15

20

25

30

The input is a sequence of building triples. All coordinates of buildings are integers less than 10,000 and there will be at least one and at most 50 buildings in the input le. Each building triple is on a line by itself in the input le. All integers in a triple are separated by one or more spaces. The triples will be sorted by Li , the left x-coordinate of the building, so the building with the smallest left x-coordinate is rst in the input le.

The Input

6 PROBLEM 6: THE SKYLINE PROBLEM

13

The Output

The output should consist of the vector that describes the skyline as shown in the example above. In the skyline vector (v1; v2; v3; : : :; vn 2 ; vn 1 ; vn), the vi such that i is an even number represent a horizontal line (height). The vi such that i is an odd number represent a vertical line (x-coordinate). The skyline vector should represent the \path" taken, for example, by a bug starting at the minimum x-coordinate and traveling horizontally and vertically over all the lines that de ne the skyline. Thus the last entry in all skyline vectors will be a 0.

Sample Input
1 11 5 2 6 7 3 13 9 12 7 16 14 3 25 19 18 22 23 13 29 24 4 28

Sample Output
1 11 3 13 9 0 12 7 16 3 19 18 22 3 23 13 29 0